Yorkshire’s Charlie Rusbridge gained the English U18 Championship at Hesketh GC in dramatic style as he secured a birdie on the second play-off gap to take the title.
The Colne Valley golfer completed tied for the lead after 72 holes alongside Harrison Sewell (Northumberland) and Daniel Hayes (Bramhall), because the trio completed on -11 after their 4 rounds of motion in Southport.
Rusbridge received off to a flying begin with an opening-day 67 earlier than taking pictures +1 on Saturday, however an unbelievable first spherical on Sunday morning noticed the 16-year-old ace the twond and eagle the 18th to complete with a 66. His last spherical of -1 was sufficient to sit down joint-top of the leaderboard.
Sewell didn’t have a fantastic begin to the occasion with +3 on day one, however -3 on day two and on the morning of day three, noticed him soar up the board. However in his fourth and last spherical, he shot the Hesketh course report (-8), which included an unbelievable eight birdies, because the 18-year-old got here out of nowhere to drive a play-off.
Hayes himself didn’t have the opening day he needed with a level-par rating however -5 on day two and two rounds of -3 on Sunday noticed him drive his manner right into a play-off, due to an excellent birdie on the 72nd gap of the competitors.
In a tense finale for the play-off, all three gamers parred the primary gap earlier than the second play-off gap (the par-5 18th) noticed 17-year-old Hayes and Sewell discover hassle with their approaches, whereas Rusbridge secured a snug two-putt birdie to crown himself English U18 champion.
Rusbridge stated: “It’s a bit surreal. It’s been a battle all week however to return out on high feels wonderful. It’s been a rollercoaster last day, clearly with a hole-in-one this morning the place I performed actually properly. I hit it properly and it appeared to stall a bit within the air however after two bounces it went in. It’s my first-ever ace, so I couldn’t imagine it. My head was a bit swell after that as I made bogey subsequent gap, however to get better from that was pleasing.
“It was a battle all afternoon with my taking part in companions and the play-offs definitely made a protracted day even longer, but it surely was particular to get the win.”
Solely 5 of the 130 gamers managed to shoot under-par on the occasion. Oscar Lent (Walton Heath) shot a formidable -8 over the 4 rounds to complete in 4th, whereas Drew Sykes (Goodwood) completed fifth on -7, largely due to a second spherical 66 which included seven birdies.
